Live, Love, Explore…Life is an Echo

So this was an interesting weekend and a little more restful than the last…which was definitely much needed!

FRIDAY NIGHT: I got a late start on my long run and had legs that were far from fresh, sometimes its a win just to make it through the work out…I did have a few moments of happiness out there on the long run even though my calves would absolutely not cooperate for the first 3 miles. Then I watched the sunset over the lake and I was reminded to be grateful for the use of my body.

On the long run your find the intersection of spirit and flesh

Overall my time was better than I expected with the sad state of my legs, but since I got such a late start I was also trying to out run the mosquitos, I was marginally successful with an over exaggerated arm swing! Capped off the night with my favorite local cheat meal at Kandela…the Ranchero with Corn Tortillas…and still gluten-free!

SATURDAY MORNING: On the bike, I have been spinning so much this summer that I have had precious little time on my actual road bike, since my next triathlon is exactly two weeks away I figured it was time to change that. Given the fact I am incapable of even reaching for my water bottle without eating pavement I certainly do not have pictures, so you will just have to take my word for it. We rode flat and relatively fast, with the exception of some serious wind and got in about 25 miles. I had an epic sunscreen fail and have REALLY severe uglies on my back from my racerback tank…apparently I’m not a proficient self-sprayer! It’s always amazing to me how engaged your senses are on the back of a road bike, you feel/sense it all, sight, sounds and SMELL! Sometimes you are treated to the faint smell of honeysuckle or something nice, but more often it’s roadkill, fertilizer, ditch water and exhaust…but oh so worth it…reconnecting with the elements.

SUNDAY MORNING: Was just the way I like it, slept in and taught an afternoon spin class followed by my Sunday ritual of Hot Yoga, an hour and a half of muscle preparation for the week ahead.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Was a grand experiment in gluten free cooking and cleaning out the fridge of ingredients I needed to use. I stumbled upon a Fresh Corn Fritter recipe on a blog I follow called Sweet Pea’s Kitchen, these are not necessarily healthy or diet specific recipes but the Corn Fritters were easily adapted into a gluten free/low cal option. The recipe I used was: FarmStand Corn Fritters, with a few slight modifications. I doubled the recipe and substituted All Purpose Flour for Almond, as well as using Egg Whites in place of Whole Eggs. The experiment worked quite well, however I did have to add the equivalent of an extra egg and an extra tablespoon or two of almond flour to achieve the binding consistency that the gluten in All Purpose Flour would have provided.

Gluten Free Farmstand Corn Fritters

Next I decided to use up a bunch of apples that were going to expire before I could eat them to make Homemade, Sugar Free Vanilla Bean Apple Sauce…I wasn’t expecting much from this but I read on Beautifully Nutty all the time about making Applesauce from scratch. Honestly I didn’t think this endeavor would really be worth my time but I wanted to use these apples that I have a tendency to over-buy. I WAS WRONG! Not only is it completely natural, free from preservatives, sugar and artificial color, it is DELICIOUS!!!!! I am really looking forward to using it as a good carb pre-workout snack this week…look out for more Applesauce experiments to come!

All Natural Vanilla Bean Applesauce

Finally, after a mountain of other Sunday Night chores I packed my lunches for the entire week, left one in the fridge and froze the rest….I have Corn Fritters, Marinated Grilled Chicken and Smashed Sweet Potatoes sweetened with Honey.

OCD on Display

I eat my biggest meal at lunch because I need the fuel for long brick workouts after the actual work day is over, dinner usually consists of a protein shake and maybe some fruit. Its going to be a good week! Hit a sale at Kroger on Larabars…the kid at the check out stand said “I tried these and they’re terrible!”, I laughed and told him they were pretty good after not having sweets for a while, to which he replied, “that’s what the other lady said too”